Saturday, December 09, 2006

When the Dolphins cheerleaders introduced their 2006 squad in April, there were 49 women. When they put up the squad photo on the website in August, there were 46 women. Now, if you look at their squad photo, 4 of the links are disabled, presumably indicating those women are no longer on the squad.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Voting Continues for cheerleader of the year in our round-robin tournament. 8 girls have been cast into the "non winners" bracket, 2 have been eliminated, and this week, we're voting on 4 more of them.

See? I told you it was a lot over nothing. Alabama never actually interviewed Nick, but they talked with his agent a few times. And ultimately, they offered him a $5 mil a year job, plus $7 mil up front. I guess they were hoping the cash would be enough to sway him.

But its a shame that this is what has happened in sport. Now, teams with a little money just pick a coach and flash some cash and ask them to work for them. Why even interview them at all?

Kevin Lubin needs help, and classmate Andrew Golden has found some high-profile benefactors.

Lubin, a senior at West Boca Raton High who started at linebacker this season, was critically injured in a drive-by shooting Nov. 22 in Delray Beach and remains in an induced coma.

Golden, a bowler for the Bulls, isn't close to Lubin, but he felt compelled to help. He heard that Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder was interested in humanitarian causes, and Golden couldn't have hoped for a better response.

Crowder and Dolphins tight end Randy McMichael agreed to come to the West Boca basketball game against Boca Raton High on Friday night to sign autographs that will raise money for Lubin's medical expenses.

Crowder said Lubin doesn't have health insurance.

"A high schooler wasn't doing anything wrong and he got caught in a bad situation," Crowder said. "I didn't have health insurance when I was in high school, either, so it hits you in the heart."

The Randy McMichael Foundation will organize the autograph signings, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cost is $10 for students and $20 for non-students. Crowder said other Dolphins might join him and McMichael.

"It's a tragedy," McMichael said. "It's one of those things where you don't have answers for it. Why would something like that happen?"

Lubin is in the intensive care unit at Delray Medical Center. He and two others were in the 1000 block of SW Second Street the day before Thanksgiving when they were fired at for no reason, police said. The others were not seriously injured.

"(Lubin) is a kid that doesn't get into trouble, he's a good kid," Golden said. "We just couldn't fathom how someone we know and we are friends with was shot."

If anyone is interested in obtaining an autographed picture of either player, and helping out a worthy cause, please let me know. Email Dave

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Miami's lone TD came on a play when the play clock appeared to tick down to all 0s. On the replay, I was pretty sure that was the case.

Jack the River threw the challenge flag hoping to get a reversal on the TD. But, alas, this is not reviewable under the rule. So, the TD stood as called.

What I thought might happen next was that Jeff and the stadium replay crew would show a replay of the snap that clearly showed the clock at 0. But, either they didn't have one, or he didn't want to temp fate. Either way, it didn't happen.

Fans and the media are starting to pile onto Nick Saban. He is now 14-14 all time as the Phins head coach, and there are those who think he's not good enough, or that the team is no better now than when he took over.

I wholeheartedly disagree. I think Nick is a good coach with a winning attitude. He has made some blunders to be sure (read: Drew Brees). And when coaching, he sometimes makes you scratch your head. But you have to look a little beyond those things.

He motivates his players. He has the right attitude. And, he started off from a very bad place. Don't forget that Rick and Dave left him in a salary cap mess. He had (and has) some players that he might not have otherwise picked, and is tied to them because of their contracts. He chruned the roster a lot, but there are only so many players available, and only so much money to spend on those players. Which ones would have been an upgrade for sure? Have you ever tried to play fantasy football? Does every player perform as you'd expect?

Yeah, they're 5-7, and that's not good enough. But, there's no disarray there, and everyone is a part of the team. Things are kept "in house." There's no bickering.

I've had an opportunity to meet him, and I can say that I came away impressed. He will succeed, but it may take a little time. Players have to understand its up to them to make the plays. And he has to learn how to remove himself sometimes and make calls that best benefit the team because this is not college.

Miami was up 7-3. There were about 10 minutes to go until the half. Joey drove them down to the 4. On first down, Morris ran for a yard loss. On second down, he threw incomplete toward Chambers. Then, on third down, he throws the ball slightly behind Chambers who tips it up in the air. You could probably guess the outcome - interception.

The Jags take over at the 4, and mount a 96 yard drive for a score. So, right there was a 14 point swing in the score. There are now just under 2 minutes left. In addition, Jason Taylor gets injured on the drive and leaves the game for the remainder of the half. Oh man, did they miss him...

Jacksonville kicks off, and the usually capable Wes Welker mishandles the ball and it bounces out at the 9 yard line.

Miami appears ready to run out the clock. Morris runs for 9, and then Joey lines up in the shotgun and hands to Morris for 5 more. But, then Mike Mularkey sends in a play that confounds: a pass that goes 15 yards up the right side. Joey is pressured and McMichael is well covered. Its another interception that's run down the field.

Somewhat surprisingly, two plays later, Jacksonville scored again to take a 17-7 lead at the half.

So, while Miami looked poised to increase the lead to at least 10-3, and maybe 14-3, its was suddenly 10-7, and then 17-7 while we watched in a stupor.

10 days to get ready for this game. Miami was playing well. The Jags were playing at about the same level, but were 1-5 on the road. Talk was about how good Joey was, the loss of Ronnie, and the Jag's receiver height advantage.

Throw out the height advantage. That's nonsense. Yeah, their receivers are tall. But, good dbs can find ways to overcome that. Miami clealry doesn't have those kind of dbs. Do you think the Patriots or Bears care if the receivers are tall?

Ronnie's absence wasn't that noticebale, as Sammie Morris filled in capably for the period where the game was in doubt.

Joey....there's another story. Most will now tell you that he's the same Joey we saw in Detroit, and some reporters even called him a "fraud." I don't go that far, but he is not as good as we had hoped. The Jags were allowing an average QB rating of about 64, which is just below Joey's overall rating. The announcers made a comment that Joey needed to play mistake-free football...but more about that in another post.

Heck, CBS moved it to the late game to "get a better matchup," but some predicted this game might be lucky to score 8 points in total.

Miami drove down the field for a 7-0 lead in a time consuming, balanced drive. The game then moved to 7-3, and Miami started to falter. Miami did very little on offense after that, and the defense kind of took a break for a time, more on that in a moment, too.

So, its 17-7 at the half, and the second half was a pathetic display of boring football. Mare missed a field goal, and then it moved to 24-7. Then, Miami got a late drive going. There are about 4 minutes left, and Miami gets down to the 24 of the Jags. Minor loses 4 yards, pass incomplete to Chambers, Minor gains 4 yards. Bam, its 4th down, and you're down by 17 points! Don't send in the field goal unit, especially after Mare honked one from the same distance earlier in the game!

Field goal unit comes in, and Miami is still down by 2 scores. Yes, Miami gets the onside kick back, but now there's about 3 1/2 minutes left...Miami moves slowly to the line time and again. Its first and goal at the 8 just before the 2 minute warning.

The crowd - what's left of it - is cheering loudly. And I'm thinking they're crazy because even if Miami does score, we're still a TD behind. "We're cheering because we'll only be down by 7!"

And of course, its turnover on downs, anyway. Sure, there's some small ray of hope that the Phins can stop the Jags on their last possession and pull out some kind of miracle, but that doesn't happen, either.

Its game over, and Miami still doesn't get to .500. And now the Patriots, Bills, Jets, and Colts remain on the schedule. 6-10 is a possibility, but I'm not optimistic.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

I don't get it. Coaches around the collegiate rank lose their jobs, and one of the first people they mention as a "candidate" is Nick Saban.

But, the Alabama job is particularly vexing. A report surfaced that Saban was interested in the job and that he had been contacted about it. Denial ensued. "I'm flattered," quoth he.

Then, it came back again. A reporter has said he was going to be interviewed this week.

Hang on. I actually read both articles. The first said that he had been considered as a candidate, and that they were going to contact him to guage interest. The second said that they want to try and arrange an interview with him.

Here's what I take from that: the reporter is trying to stir it up a bit. He wants a great coach at the head of the program. Heck, maybe even the program is thinking wishfully about it. And the "blowback" (when other news media reports on an article as though its all fact) has been extensive. But, I have my doubts that its any more than that.

Its talk. And dreams. Because, as Nick said, why would he go back? Boosters. Drive to win every game. Committees. Presidents. Athletic directors. And the fans. And for less money.

I wanted to try and help understand the "tradition" of popping the cork on a bottle of bubbly when the last team falls. This is a bit of a misunderstood topic.

You see, Dick Anderson always publicly celebrated when the last team lost. He was proud of the accomplishment. Occasionaly, Nick Buoniconti would join him because he lives literally down the block.

Then, on the 25th anniversary of the accomplishment - in 1997 - a small group of former players who live in the neighborhood got together and toasted the accomplishment. Anderson, Buoniconti, and Bob Griese were among them. It was a nice tribute on that particular anniversary.

Since that time, Anderson has continued his celebration. But, its nearly always "alone" and there's reportedly no champagne involved.